Thread: Intermediate steering shaft

So, how often does our intermediate shaft go bad? Apparently is a common issue with numerous GM cars. Anybody with an idea of the time intervals for these intermediate steering shafts? Usually its the knuckle that binds up and what not....

Thanks......

The W bodies don't usually have an issue.

they dont bind up, they click and get play in the joints. i can tell you first hand, its no fun to change one.

some have rigged up a spray can of lube and a hose to lube the joints up. i greased the living crap out of the one i changed. i got one used with a steering column i bought, so i changed it hoping it would solve some front end issues i was having, no dice. big waste of time on my end.

Originally Posted by Scottydoggs

they dont bind up, they click and get play in the joints. i can tell you first hand, its no fun to change one.

some have rigged up a spray can of lube and a hose to lube the joints up. i greased the living crap out of the one i changed. i got one used with a steering column i bought, so i changed it hoping it would solve some front end issues i was having, no dice. big waste of time on my end.

Damn, yeah I greased the hell out my intermediate shaft to so I guess thats not what im hearing. I changed the rack n pinion in my LS with pure success and after I did my GS rack n pinion about a month ago noticed a clunking sound when accelerating and coming to a stop. It always sounds like something is moving around pretty loosely down there.

Rack to subframe bolts are torqued, tie rods are torqued and aligned perfectly, intermediate shaft to rack gear housing shaft is aligned properly with the pinch bolt torqued to specs.

With everything being solid, torqued and aligned to specs everything appears to be tight with no movement at all until I accelerate or come to a stop. Mind you I didnt have this intermittent play before I changed the rack. With everything being solid with no movement all I can think of is it being the intermediate shaft bc it's the only thing that moves or at least turns/spins while steering but even that may not be the issue bc I hear/feel the movement while accelerating and coming to a stop without even turning the steering when.

I feel the movement right under my feet so im thinking it's the gear housing itself internally. It's a ACdelco reman from RockAuto(same one used on my LS) so I didn't think it would be defective but apparently it is. I also thought it could've been the shaft joints hitting/rubbing on the gear housing/shaft rubber boot but I don't think it's that.

well based of your post I probably wont worry about the intermediate shaft being the issue but I will purchase a rack n pinion replacement

Dee ... check your rack bolts again. I've seen them come loose.

Yeah I'll check again, though I checked a million times including using a pry bar. The rack doesn't even move when cycling the wheel back and forth which also makes me think its not the rack at least directly (rack to subframe bolts). May be the internal valves or maybe even contaminated oil though the clunking sounds more mechanically related. But I'll definitely check again

i replaced every last front end part, the clunking was still there up to the day i changed the lca's, mission complete.

not that the other parts were good, they were shot and had to be changed, but, with every part you change, you hope the noise is gone.

Yeah, I did my LC arms about a year ago so i know thats not it. Besides the clunking didnt start until I installed the new rack n pinion which leads me to think its rack related. Now im a lil skeptical about ordering another ACdelco rack. Might just go Cardone this time around

cardone is pure crap, acdelco is a far better company to buy from.

ACdelco is thee best manufactuer out there closest to OEM parts for sure but they just pissed me off with this one. Cardone is pretty much just a thought. Though Cardone is a trusted and proven aftermarket supplier, I'll probably stick with ACdelco due to the fact that a rack n pinion is a very important assembly and ima need that precision quality which is why I went to ACdelco in the first place.

I tell you one thing, I can't wait till its over with. I need a break from these cars lol....

Dee.. AC Delco is the OEM

Yup......GM has GM products which are thee actual OEM parts and then ACdelco is the closest in quality to OEM parts, pretty much identical just a bit less expensive. Man, if GM wasn't so overpriced I would buy from GM directly. Their prices are just ridiculous and in some cases aftermarket products are actually better depending on the part and which aftermarket manufactuer thats building it bc they correct some flaws that the OEM originally had.

But luckily we have after market manufactuers like ACdelco bc otherwise I would be spending close to $600 if not more to GM opposed to $130 after a $110 core charge to ACdelco. Big difference lol, companies like ACdelco saved me a bunch of money.

if you buy from the dealer, you'll get a acdelco part. they are "the" GM supplier.

I was gonna say.. wanna see the sticker aka Delco on my stock alt?

how about the acdelco sticker on the radio too. lol they be everywhere i tell ya.

Damn aftermarket parts. Damn factory is full of them.. Why didn't they give us genuine GM parts? That's like Ford using that cheap replacement .....Motorcraft

Love it how he is clueless about gm beening ac delco.

No im not clueless thanks, I was referring to those parts that you can only get exclusively from GM. For instance my GM performance struts, or Torsen differential, the list goes on. Yeah GM uses a lot of stuff through ACdelco as stock OEM parts for instance my stock PCM(the brain of the car), and the list goes on. Im not denying anything all im saying is that GM does have a list of products that you can only get from GM (yeah with that big stamp sticker that says GM on it, not ACdelco). This goes for a lot of GM cars and other car manufactuers also.

Lets get one thing understood, GM is GM not ACdelco, ACdelco is ACdelco not GM.

Cracks me up that the two things you mention as GM only diff and struts haven't been available for a while..